Thursday, 13 August 2009

Battlescape Review







The first thing I noted, with relief, when I opened the box was that this is a proper plastic kit, not vacu-formed tat. It is similar in design to the Temple of Skulls.

The main part is a single piece of rigid plastic. This is good in many ways but it does cause design limitations because the plastic cutter only works at right angles. In practice, this means you cannot have undercuts on the detail modelled onto the the plate. This is not an important limitation in this case but it does show that the GW marketing trolls have been up to their tricks again. The photographed model used on the box lid, etc, is not the kit you buy. This is not a big deal in this case as the battlescape kit is very good, albeit not as good as the photographed kit, but GW are nevertheless playing with fire.

There is a problem with the Rhino visor. It does not fit the space provided and you will need to reposition it and use filler. It also needs a little filler on the trees.

The assembled kit paints well and looks good. It is well designed with plenty of flat places to position troops. The Rhino has no bottom which does look a bit odd, so I positioned the doors in the shut position. I will probably have to put a false floor in.

I tried playing around with paint layering on this kit. This is not a technique that i have used before so i will leave you to judge how badly i did.

The rust is from MIG powders, stabilised with art charcoal/pastel stabiliser; you can't put matt varnish on powders as it 'hides' them.

This is a very nice piece of terrain and good value at a mere £15.

I give it 4 out of 5.
at

12 comments:

  1. Admiral Drax14 August 2009 at 00:03

    Good bunny.

    Really.

    Thanks for the review, but can you elaborate on your point about the cover art at all please? Just out of interest...

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  2. Big D14 August 2009 at 03:00

    You painted that up quite nicely. When I saw the first pic I thought you had lost your mind and painted it purple and called it good.

    I like the paint layering, adds a worn look to it. Is that rabbit a pet or are you just swamped with em over there? I see rabbits in your pics from time to time but don't know if it is the same one or not.

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  3. Will Wright14 August 2009 at 03:13

    Wow John,You did a really good job painting this IMO.
    Interesting choice of purple for a basecoat but when finished it works very well.
    I love how you got the rust to look all bubbly.
    Is that an effect of the powders?
    How did you achieve that?

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  4. John Lambshead14 August 2009 at 08:18

    Drax

    Have a look at he front of the Rhino. On the box art model the SM backpack stands proud but on the kit it is molded on. Also the backpack and dirt to the right are cut on the kit for the 'visor' plate to fit. The problem is that the cuts are out of alignment so filler is needed.

    John

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  5. John Lambshead14 August 2009 at 08:20

    Is the basecoat purple? I thought it was brown. Red-green colour blindness is wonderful.
    John

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  6. John Lambshead14 August 2009 at 08:23

    The rabbit is my daughter's. He is supposed to be a lop-eared dwarf but is more likely an English. He is very like a wild rabiit. He is very curious about what anyone is doing in his garden. he has a love-hate relationship with next door's cat. Yesterday I had to break up a squabble over a frog.

    John

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  7. Admiral Drax14 August 2009 at 10:16

    I see what you mean - thanks.

    That's a pretty poor show. I looked back at your blastscape post too: ditto.

    Hoodwinking would be a bad path for GW to take...

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  8. John Lambshead14 August 2009 at 13:37

    Dear Will

    The flaking rust effect is caused by the MIG Powders.

    Do not varnish these - use an art stabiliser, the sort of thing that is used to stabalise charcoal or pastel drawings.

    MIG also supply a stabiliser but art ones are available from any craft shop.

    John

    best wishes

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  9. John Lambshead14 August 2009 at 13:41

    Dear Draz

    How's the weather in Plymouth? It's bloody hot here in Kent - at least 24DegC - Americans feel free to snear at this point :)

    GW are going to have to reconsider the policy of using original hand built models for marketing rather than tghe item for sale or they could find themselves up before Trading Standards, which would be embarrassing.

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  10. Pick A Damn Army14 August 2009 at 19:34

    I thought you had gone mad with the purple undercoat as well, then I looked at the finished picture and my jaw dropped. I think this is the best paint job I've seen from you John. It's inspiring really, perfectly shaded and highlighted with great colors, rust effects and scorch marks. Beautiful.

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  11. John Lambshead14 August 2009 at 21:05

    Dear Rabid
    Thank you!
    I am trying to teach myself layering.
    John

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  12. Anonymous20 February 2010 at 17:25

    does it come assembled

    ReplyDelete